Former President Donald Trump has once again upended another presidential cycle this week with a grand jury unveiling a third indictment against him on Tuesday over his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential cycle and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Trump’s rivals for the nomination should have been focusing on the campaign trail and the upcoming Republican National Committee primary debate on Aug. 23. Instead they were forced to respond to a 45-page indictment that charged Trump with four counts including conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
RNC ANNOUNCES CRITERIA FOR SECOND DEBATE DESPITE UNCERTAIN TRUMP PARTICIPATION
But the 2024 field’s response to Trump’s latest legal problems indicates a lack of cohesive response in attacking the former president, further ensuring Trump’s front-runner status in the race. Despite being an unprecedented thrice-indicted, twice-impeached former president, Donald Trump could likely become the next GOP standard-bearer in 2024. It’s a sign that Trump just may be unstoppable in his third quest for the White House no matter what legal drama he’s engulfed in.
“What would be the next challenge you would throw at Trump? He’s been convicted of essentially a rape made disparaging comments about women for years and years and years,” veteran University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock told the Washington Examiner, referencing Trump’s loss in the E. Jean Carroll civil trial in his first example. “He’s now been indicted for a range of felonies. What more could it be?”
Katon Dawson, former South Carolina Republican Party chairman, said Trump commands 40% of the Republican base to support him. “That’s the same percent of the base that says they don’t trust their government,” Dawson said. “And so what has luckily played into former President Trump’s hand is the fact that our base just doesn’t trust the government anymore and hasn’t for a while.”
Yet Dawson, a supporter of presidential candidate Nikki Haley, cautioned against assuming Trump is a shoo-in for the nomination. “Trump is prone to make a big enough mistake to put a question mark into that hard 40[%] base,” he said. “My advice is, you know, you can’t help that happen. It’s going to have to be self-inflicted.”
Trump’s legal problems are far from over as the 2024 primary continues to barrel forth. In addition to being found liable for defamation and sexual abuse against Carroll, a Georgia grand jury could indict Trump over their investigation into alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the coming weeks. A federal judge set a trial for special counsel Jack Smith‘s case against Trump over mishandling classified documents in May 2024, during the nominating contests.
Despite the chaos surrounding the former president, the 2024 field has been split in their responses to Trump’s problems. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Trump’s closest competitor, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) were two candidates who opted to attack the “weaponization” of the Justice Department this week. But neither candidate is anywhere close to dethroning Trump’s dominance with Republican primary voters. Trump leads the field at 53.9%, while DeSantis is at 18.1% and Scott at 3.1%, according to a RealClearPolitics polling average.
Hayes Dent, a Republican consultant based in Mississippi who doesn’t support Trump, cautioned that polling can change in an instant. “Polling can move very quickly. And with social media, it can move even quicker,” Dent said. “But I believe that there’s just a core element of our party, of our primary voters, they’re just stuck on Trump, and I fear that there’s going to be enough for him to win the nomination.”
Dent pointed to Trump steamrolling his opponents in 2016, notably Jeb Bush, as one example that the future GOP primary will likely become engulfed by the former president. “I think we’re in for more contentious political debate,” Dent said. “We’re not going to talk about the things that are important to the country. We’re going to talk about personalities, and we’re going to talk about people’s energy levels, and we’re going to talk about people’s different kinds of personality quirks or what have you, instead of talking about what really needs to be discussed, which is, are there some elite top levels of government that have just simply become too partisan?”
Vivek Ramaswamy, a long-shot candidate, opted to file a lawsuit against the Justice Department on Tuesday for not “substantively” responding to a Freedom of Information Act request filed in June. The FOIA request sought information about communication between the Biden administration, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Smith over Trump’s second indictment, in which he was accused of mishandling classified documents.
“I just want to know the truth from the government. What did Joe Biden tell Merrick Garland? What did Merrick Garland tell Jack Smith? We deserve to know,” Ramaswamy said during a Wednesday afternoon press conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Ramaswamy announced he had filed a new FOIA request over Trump’s most recent indictment.
“We’re told we have a special prosecutor,” Ramaswamy continued. “Great, the government should be transparent about all communications between the White House and Merrick Garland. And between either of them, Merrick Garland or Joe Biden, and Jack Smith. And I think the public will be better off for, yes, knowing the truth. And whatever the truth is, yes, we can handle the truth.”
Another long-shot GOP candidate, Ryan Binkley, claimed that Trump’s indictments were a “distraction” and that he was focusing on giving Republican voters a new message beyond relitigating the past. “It’s not impacting us really, at all,” Binkley, a pastor and Texas businessman, said. “You know, right now, we’ve been to over 57 counties in Iowa. We’ve been here in New Hampshire now for two days. Wisconsin last week. There are so many people that are just looking for the future vision for our country. I think it’s kind of a distraction more than anything. But not impacting the major issues that they’re really worried about.”
Binkley said his campaign is still working on meeting the 40,000 unique donor requirement in order to participate in the first Republican National Committee debate on Aug. 23.”It’s going to take a full max effort all the way through to the last day. So we’re gonna need another 20,000 or 30,000 plus,” he said. “It’s going take a big effort, but we are hopeful to be there on the debate stage in August and are making every effort to do so.”
Other more critical candidates, including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, and former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, have chosen to excoriate Trump as unsuitable for the presidency.
“Sadly, the president was surrounded by a group of crackpot lawyers that kept telling him what his itching ears wanted to hear,” Pence said on Wednesday about Trump’s indictments.
“And while I made my case to it, with what I understood by also the constitution to require, the president ultimately continued to demand that I choose him over the Constitution,” he continued, referencing Trump pressuring him not to certify the 2020 results. “I want the American people to know that I believe with all my heart, by God’s grace, I did my duty that day. And as I stand for the Republican nomination for president, I want them to know, whatever it means to me, I’ll always stand on the Constitution of the United States.”
Mike Pence on Trump effort to overturn election results: “Sadly, the president was surrounded by a group of crackpot lawyers that kept telling him what his itching ears wanted to hear. … The president ultimately continued to demand that I choose him over the Constitution.” pic.twitter.com/wLhw0mA78Q
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) August 2, 2023
Yet even the more vocal Trump critics are struggling to peel off Trump voters. Bullock, the Georgia expert, said it’s possible that Trump’s rivals may not be able to block his forward march to the nomination, and given a possible fourth indictment in Georgia, Trump’s competitors may be locked in. “I think it’d be very difficult for someone like DeSantis just have to say, ‘Well, the first three indictments I can stand but the fourth one that’s a bridge too far. I can’t go with him on this one.’ And so I think the people who have been the Trump apologists pretty much locked down on that,” he said.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
However, Dawson, the South Carolina GOP lawmaker, said he compares Trump to former President Richard Nixon, who resigned in the wake of the Watergate scandal. “First, the base was behind President Nixon. We liked him,” Dawson said. “And finally, the base gave up on Nixon. There’s just so much evidence that came out. So much about the Watergate break-in.”
But Dawson said if there’s solid evidence that Trump can’t defeat Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris, “then you’ll see the fallout.”
